This blog is dedicated to treating everyone - clients, prospects, friends, and family - as valuable partners. We should show them our gratitude through all our actions, including our marketing.

July 6, 2014

Leaders

It has been said multiple times that leadership is not the
same as management. Leaders set examples as well as teach others what they
should do to succeed. While we are known by others for what we say, we are
known even more by what we do and by how we treat others, whether the others are
clients, prospects, family, or friends.

Leaders may be business managers or owners, and their
actions in their business dealings reflect their personalities, their beliefs,
and their basic culture. Their treatment of employees as well as clients,
paints a picture of what type of person they are. If we observe what they do,
as well as what they say, then we will know with whom are partnering in
building successful relationships.

We all should listen when leaders speak about their
management style. We should listen even more closely when leaders speak about
the corporate culture of their businesses, about how their business was built,
and about their relationships with clients, prospects, competitors, and
everyone else that they know. They know what they are doing, and we must learn
from them.

In addition to listening to the great advice that leaders
tell us, we must watch what they do during the daily performance of their
business. We also should observe what they do in their personal lives and learn
how they build the relationships which will reward them with great and
beneficial karma. Both their words of wisdom and our observations teach us how
to operate our own businesses.

What else do leaders do to be classified as leaders? They
not only lead through their spoken wisdom and by their examples of how we
should treat others, they inspire us to be better and more successful leaders
ourselves. Their encouragement, either directly or indirectly, can become the
basis for our own success. It can change our lives and impact the lives of
everyone whom we know.

What do leaders do that makes them so special? What do they
do every day to make them and their businesses so successful? The fact that
they build relationships with others is one of their secrets. Another secret of
their success is that they treat others better than they are expected to do so,
better than they need to, and better than a sale requires.

Leaders will perform at a higher level than is expected.
They will provide more value than expected, more than they are required by the
price charged. They will go the extra mile, not just get by. Leaders do not
believe in the phrase: “Just good enough”? Leaders left that phrase for business
people who will fail. They always strive to provide a greater value than they
charge for their offerings.

Leaders will provide a great product or service for a fair
compensation. Their clients also discover that more was delivered than enough
to qualify as adequate for the price. In addition, if any problem presents
itself in a sales transaction, leaders will more than make up for any inconvenience
to their client. Aggravations suffered by a client will be compensated at a
greater level than expected.

Who do you know who is a leader? Is that person an example
as well as a source for advice? Is that person an inspiration for others? Watch
their actions, listen to what they say, and see their inspiration. If they are
a leader, you should build a strong relationship with that person and try to
emulate what they are. You cannot help but reap the benefits of that relationship.

Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com,
or call me at 360-314-8691. Please accept my apology for posting
late last week. I was coming home from California on the normal posting morning,
and time just got away from me.